Magical Mischief
by eprime
Summary: Summer 1975. The boys lose their wands to an ill-thought out plan. They innovate.  MWPP GEN mostly.


"I can't believe your mum confiscated our wands." Sirius dangled a long leg over the branch of the tree, leaning back against the trunk with a disgruntled pout.

"The whole thing was your idea!" James thumped Sirius on the head as he climbed nimbly to the next higher branch.

"Yeah, but your execution of said idea sucked, mate. You were supposed to summon one pair of knickers, not the entire washline."

Scrambling past an awkwardly placed sprig, Peter rearranged himself on his own branch, looking hopefully up at James. "Did you manage to stash the knickers?"

Sirius chucked an acorn at him. "Don't be thick, Wormtail. She's known Prongs for sixteen years."

"You do realize you could've just snuck over in the cloak and taken them?" With practiced ease, Remus jumped up and grabbed onto the thinnest, lowest branch and swung up until his knees were hooked over it. Then he released his hands and let his body sway free.

Sirius stared down at him as Remus tugged the hem of shirt back over his stomach, shoving a bit of the fabric into the waistband of his jeans to hold it there. "Too easy." He said after a moment of silence. "What's the fun in that?"

"Still having our wands so we could use them for better things than indulging James' fetish for pink lace?"

Peter and Sirius sniggered.

"Good point!"

"Oi!"

Remus neatly batted away the pelted acorn without blinking an eye.

"But what are we supposed to do now?" Sirius was once again frowning at the tree canopy.

"Yeah." James shook his head with a doleful sigh. "We were going to practice all those new hexes to surprise Snivelly with September first."

"Couldn't we nick the wands from your mum later?"

"Trust me, Wormtail. Mum may look like a sweet, harmless lady to you, but she'll play merry hell if she catches us anywhere near them."

"Unless we somehow manage to learn the art of wand making in the next few days, I'd say this is a clear sign that the two of you should lay off Snape a bit."

"Ugh." Sirius groaned dramatically. "Listen to the Prefect. It's already started."

Scowling, Remus shoved up two fingers. But James bolted upright, almost falling out of the tree in his excitement.

"No! Moony's brilliant!"

"I am?"

"He is?"

"He is?"

"Yes! We'll build our own wands!"

hr

"You know these types of wood aren't traditionally used for wand making."

Of course, that didn't deter James in the slightest. He continued stripping the twigs away that marred the lines of his chosen branch.

"We're not traditional blokes, Moony! Can I borrow your pocket knife again."

Hours later, each boy was holding a homemade wand of varying straightness, thickness, and length.

"Chestnut. Eleven inches, eh, Prongs?" Sirius smirked. "Over-compensating for something?"

"Shut it. You're all just jealous." Raising his voice to be heard over the laughter, James brandished his stick, posing in a classic, over the head attack pose.

Gamely, Peter flourished his own seven and half inch, mulberry stick at James. "I think they're rather ace." His face was still stained purple from the juice of the berries he'd spent half his time eating.

Sirius snorted, but he playfully crossed wands with Remus. They both had nicely-shaped wands, around eight inches in length. Sirius had chosen dogwood, of course, because he could never resist a bad joke, but Remus had insisted on using a traditional wood, and had deftly carved his out of a sturdy offshoot of English Oak.

Grinning, they fenced for several seconds until a melee broke out among the four of them. It wasn't until Sirius got his knuckles smacked accidentally and sat down in a huff to suck at them, that Remus pointed out the obvious.

"You know, these aren't going to work without a magical core."

"We _know_ that, Moony." James waved that insignificant detail away. "I've already got mine squared away."

"Oh?" The skepticism in Remus' voice was accentuated by his raised eyebrow. "What are you using, then?"

"Neighbor's cat is part kneazle, I swear. I'm just going to nip over there and pluck a nice long tail hair."

"A kneazle?" Peter said doubtfully.

"Kneazles are right smart, you know. Probably smarter than you, Wormtail," James said scathingly. "And you've got something on your face, did you know?"

Flushing bright red, Peter scrubbed futilely as his stained mouth and chin. "But what are we supposed to use?"

"You'll have to work that out on your own for once." James looked up at the sky, pursing his lips as he noted the sun's position. "I'd say we have a good hour before supper. Everyone can split up and find their own core, and then we'll meet back here and try them out."

Without another word, James took off toward the neighbor's property. Peter stared after him rather forlornly, then he glanced at Remus and Sirius, shrugged and wandered off toward the tall grasses at the edge of the woods.

Sirius and Remus exchanged speculative glances. After a moment, they smiled and moved off together in the opposite direction of Peter until they were hidden in the trees.

Half an hour later, they'd all returned to the meeting spot, each of them clutching a short stiff hair.

"Has anyone given any thought to how we're supposed to get the hairs inside the sticks? _Wands_," Remus corrected himself, rolling his eyes, as James began to huff. "Without using magic?"

The others stared at their wands with a gobsmacked expression.

"Don't Muggles have tools for things like that?" Peter asked.

"Maybe, but we don't have any Muggles tools, do we?"

James frowned. "What about your pocket knife? Couldn't we dig a hole out with that?"

"You want to bore a hole a hair's breadth wide with that?" Remus laughed. "Be my guest."

"This is stupid," Sirius announced. He flopped on the ground and stretched his arms over his head, trying to bask in the late evening light. "We wasted the whole day on a load of ruddy bollocks."

"I like that! If that's your attitude, perhaps we don't need your help on the map next term!" James kicked at Sirius' outstretched leg. "Prat!"

Remus, though, was staring at Sirius, his brow furrowed as Sirius lazily shot James an obscene gesture. "Actually," he said thoughtfully, and everyone turned their eyes toward him. "Wands are just a focus for wizards. We don't really _need_ them to do magic. Or," he amended. "We don't until we get used to them. When we're kids, we do magic all the time without a wand, right?"

"Yeah, so?" James threw himself down beside Sirius with a petulant flounce.

"Well, it shouldn't matter, then. Say, if we attached the hairs to the outside somehow instead. The components are all there, so theoretically, it could still work. It's still a focal point for our magic."

Sirius sat up, beaming. "Moony, you are brilliant!"

James was smiling, as well, and Peter looked intrigued. "Do you really think that would work?"

"Only one way to find out."

Enthusiastic again, James sprang up. "So what do we use to attach them? Spellotape? Glue?"

"Yeah, or nail polish, maybe. You've seen the clear kind the girls put on over the top of their nails to make them shiny? It would lock the hairs in and be a protective layer to the wands, as well."

"Yes!"

"Ugh, James." Remus wiped away the saliva James' smacking kiss left on his cheek.

"Up, lads! We're off to the village!"

They had to wait until after supper to seal the hairs to the sticks, but after they'd held a shrieking Peter down and painted his toes with the clear overlay, they managed to get the job done and wait for them dry.

Peter's was ready first and they all admired his shiny, new wand, noting the custard color of the attached hair. "What did you get it from?" James asked curiously.

A little embarrassed, Peter shrugged. "Found a nest of puffskeins in the tall grass. Got this from the biggest one."

Everyone laughed, but they thumped Peter on the back goodnaturedly.

"What about yours, Sirius?"

Sirius grinned like the cat who got the cream, twirling his wand in a showy manner. "Hair of a teenage werewolf."

James and Peter gaped, while Remus looked on sheepishly.

"That is..." James' mouth worked like a fish. "So bloody brilliant! I hate you for thinking of it instead of me."

"My genius cannot be emulated."

Remus cleared his throat.

"Except maybe by Moony."

James narrowed his eyes. "What'd you get, then?"

Normally not one for theatrics, Remus grinned, letting the moment drag out until James punched his shoulder. "Moony!"

"All right!" He held his wand aloft. "I present to you my Wand of Destiny! The Deathstick! Greater than the Elder Wand ever thought about being!"

Sirius was laughing his head off, and James cried out Remus' name again in frustration. Remus dropped his arm and grinned.

"Hair of a Grim."

"Oh. _Oh_." The look of grudging envy on James' face made Sirius and Remus exchange smug grins. Finally, James sighed heavily and dropped his head. "I am humbled by this display of marauderly genius. Peter and I must bow to a game well played."

Taking his cue, Peter immediately joined James in a sweeping bow, to which Sirius and Remus nodded regally. Then, Sirius smirked. "Enough of that. Let's give them a go!"

"Pete, square off with me," James commanded. "On the count of three, we cast _Expelliarmus_, yeah?"

Peter nodded, and they both got into position.

"Remus, you count."

Remus waited until they were both ready.

"One. Two. Three!"

Both boys shouted the spell, brandishing their wands expertly.

After a moment, Sirius chuckled. "That was a bit anticlimactic."

"Try to focus," Remus encouraged. "Just let it flow naturally. Try it again."

Once more he counted off and the spells were shouted.

"Bugger." James scowled, letting his arm drop to his side.

"Let us try! Don't give me that look, Prongs." Sirius leapt in front of Remus. "I want a go."

"Fine, whatever."

Rather ungraciously, James began counting off for them.

"One."

"Two."

"Three."

Sparks flew.


End file.
